Article: Leading in the digital age: How to design for experience and creativity?

Leading in the digital age: How to design for experience and creativity?

Understanding the needs of the new generation of the workforce and continuously improving experience are key business drivers.

As the world of digital disrupts businesses, there are a number of things that are changing – from leadership to the customer, from innovative processes to creativity, companies are findings ways to help navigate the future.

On Day 1 of TechHR, a mega keynote featured three experts who talked about what it means to lead in this disruptive age. The panel featured Neelam Dhawan, Chairman, Advisory Board of IBM, Durga Raghunath, SVP – Growth, Zomato and James Taylor, Creativity and Artificial Intelligence Expert.

Speaking about the way leaders look at the talent function, Neelam spoke about key talent markers – including succession, attrition and employee engagement that are critical business drivers.

1. Focus on experience and technology

“Create processes driven by experience and not experience driven by the process,” Neelam said.

At a time when a new generation of employees are taking on the workplace, it is critical to understand the potential of new technologies. AI is helping recruiters address problems on scale. From Chatbots screening potential candidates to identifying processes, talent leaders need to think about how they are improving experience using technology.

2. Make use of tools that employees already use

An average mobile phone user spends at least two hours on their mobile phone, Neelam said. They are also likely to spend a large majority of their time on social media. HR professionals need to think about how they are leveraging these tools to engage employees at work.

3. Soft skills and the creative mindset

Companies that are at the forefront of the industrial revolution 4.0 are focusing on soft skills like Creativity, Persuasion, Collaboration and Adaptability.

According to a leading business thinker, Jack Ma, “One should not bother to focus on skills that can be done by machines.” There are a number attributes that foster a creative mindset and culture. Talent leaders need to think about attributes like an environment of competition, collaboration, freedom, density and trust.

4. Fostering “spaces” that nurture creativity

Just as Vienna had coffee shops and ancient Athens had symposiums, companies need to think about spaces that people will flock to, in order to ideate. “Creativity flourishes in places where it is valued and rewarded,” James said.

Companies should think of innovative new ways of organizing physical spaces – whether that’s circular workplaces that allow for people to discuss and debate and at the same time, work individually, or create spaces that

5. Experiment with processes and talent

Durga Raghunath spoke about how Zomato as a company consciously shifts their employees’ workplaces in order to encourage fresh thinking. She also spoke about how the company encourages people to think about the experience and content on the app. These experiments are critical to driving innovative new processes.

Leading in the digital age is increasingly going to focus on the creative tension between people and technology. And talent leaders will need to continuously ask better questions and focus on driving the right culture.